A NORTH-EAST engineering firm is boasting significant growth in its on-site activity during the first six months of the year, despite the global pandemic

Darlington-based Cleveland Bridge has seen a 40 per cent increase in activity during the first half of the year, compared to the last six months of 2019, as it successfully continued to deliver both local and national projects during the lockdown period.

Since January, the company has completed steelworks for some major projects, starting the year with the fabrication of an iconic heritage railway bridge, which was successfully installed in the heart of the North Yorkshire National Park and forms part of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

During lockdown, the structural steel specialist successfully installed the last of four bridges as part of the £79 million A13 project, which involved widening the road between Orsett and Stanford-le-Hope, as well as the completion of its work on the Carrington Bridge project, a new road bridge over the River Severn in Worcester.

More recently, the company fabricated and installed a major new bridge for the Congleton Link Road project in Cheshire.

The 90-metre-long two-span bridge was required to carry the road over the River Dane.

Comprising six lines of steel girders, forming three braced pairs, the entire steel structure weighed 514 tonnes .

All steel components were fabricated from weathering grade steel, which requires no painting or treatment throughout its life.

The increase in activity comes after Cleveland Bridge, which has more than 150 years' experience in the industry, acted quickly to implement new ways of working when the pandemic hit, including through the lockdown period, to enable the continued fabrication and delivery of completed structures across England.

Chris Droogan, managing director of Cleveland Bridge UK, said: “The significant rise in productivity this year is a fantastic achievement, and demonstrates our ability to quickly adapt to the challenges presented by the change to operations and regulations, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"These challenges have been met head-on, with professionalism and dedication, ensuring the health and safety of our staff is always our number one priority and delivered with minimum disruption to activity on site.

“We are passionate about delivering exceptional quality, and the increase in activity is a positive endorsement of our skills and capabilities, which form part of the growth strategy for the future.”

Cleveland Bridge operates a 22-acre site in Darlington, featuring a 27,000 square metre fabrication facility and a paint facility design for the application of high-specification paint systems.